Building structure



March 21, 1939. J. H STITES Filed April 26, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet lINVEN'EOR. 7/mas 11. 621 its March 21, 1939. J H T T s BUILDINGSTRUCTURE Filed April 26, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYJ Patented Mar. 21, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to building structure, and it has to doparticularly with a masonry structure which embodies new arrangementsand elements and which may be and preferably is so 5 arranged that amasonry building can be erected which simulates a log structure or thelike.

The walls of the structure may be made of inner and outer masonry wallportions separated to provide an air space for keeping out the dampnessand frost and also for insulating the structure. The structure ispreferably reenforced by studding which lies between the inner and outerwall portions, and this studding may be of steel such as I beams or thelike and which are preferably provided with apertures for ventilationpurposes. A novel structure is provided for the top of the wall and forsupporting the rafter of a roof which may be arranged to take care ofdifferent roof pitches. The masonry wall structure embodies anarrangement for providing interlocking joints, and cross ties may beused for further strengthening a wall. The masonry blocks used arepreferably formed with an outer surface substantially having the contourof and designed to simulate the exposed surfaces of logs. To this endthe blocks may be so formed and ornamented superficially to simulatelogs with or without bark thereon, or rough hewn timber or the like.

The hollow wall structure makes for a wall which is frost-proof anddamp-proof and the masonry and steel structure provides a wall which isfire proof and not subject to rotting or other disintegration, as wellas a wall which is tightly closed for the prevention of passage of aircurrents therethrough.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of a wall structure 40 constructed inaccordance with the invention and illustrating one form of cornerarrangement.

Fig. 2 is a plan view substantially of the wall structure shown in Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a masonry block.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view with parts cut away illustrating a portionof the wall structure.

Fig. 5 is a view of a wall structure showing a difierent kind of corner.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 showing a still 'diifere'nt form ofcorner.

Fig. 7 is a vertical sectional view taken through a wall structure madein accordance with the invention.

Fig. 8 is a detail view of a reenforcing tie mem- 55 her,

Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view illustrating the arrangement forsupporting a roof rafter.

Fig. 10 is a top plan view illustrating the top plate used under theroof rafter.

Fig. 11 is a view showing a modified form of rafter attaching device.

First refer to Fig. 3: This figure shows a masonry block which may bemade up of any suitable material such as concrete, cinder block, or anyother suitable material. The block is generally illustrated at I and asshown has a portion of rectangular form in cross section, and may beprovided with cored-out parts or recesses 2 for lightening the block andfor providing a sort of a hollow block structure. The ends of the blockare provided with grooves 3, which may be of any desired shape,advantageously the shape as shown. The block has another portion whichis to be exposed, and this portion is rounded as shown at 4, takingsubstantially the form or contour of a log. Grooves 5 are formed betweenthe rounded portion and the rectangular part of the block asillustrated, for forming an interlocking mortar engagement as willpresently appear. The end of the block may also have a recess or groove6 in the outer portion, also for forming an interlocking structure, aswill presently appear.

These blocks may be laid to form a wall structure illustrated in Figs.1, 3 and '7. Preferably, the wall is made double. The inside blocks maybe formed to present rather a flat surface, the inside blocks beingillustrated at Ia, and each having a flat surface 4a. The inside blocks,however, may be otherwise formed like the blocks I with the grooves forinterlocking purposes.

At suitable places the inner and outer walls may be tied together by thetie pieces at l which may take the form of strap metal with the endssplit and with the end portions on opposite sides of each splitfashioned angularly as illustrated at l I to form gripping heads. Thetie pieces may extend through the wall structure as illustrated in Figs.2 and 7 with the heads disposed in the space provided by the meetinggrooves 5. Suitable reenforcements may be used between the inner andouter walls preferably in the form of metal studding which may be of Ibeam or other suitable metal shapes. The studding is illustrated at I3and is preferably apertured as at M so that the entire space between thewalls is in gaseous communication for ventilation purposes.

When this wall is erected the blocks are laid in the usual manner andthe mortar fills in the spaces between the facing recesses 3 and 6 onthe ends of the blocks. This is illustrated at l and It. In finishingthe erection, mortar is filled in between the blocks at their outersurfaces; that is between the adjacent vertical edges of each pair ofblocks. This mortar preferably has such coloring and consistency as tomatch or substantially match the surface of the blocks. Thus thevertical joints are rendered more or less imperceptible or subdued.Mortar is also placed in the horizontally extending joints between rowsof blocks, and this mortar is filled in as illustrated at 20 in thereentrant groove formed by the grooves 5. Preferably, the blocks areproportioned so as to provide for quite a wide stripof mortar at 26,thus to simulate the relatively wide calking or filling between the logsof a log structure. This is accomplished by having. the exterior roundedportion 4 of a vertical dimension less than the vertical dimension ofthe body of the block, as illustrated in Fig. '7.

Various corner structures may be used. As illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2,the corner structure is of the vertical rounded post type. Here aplurality of substantially semi-circular blocks 2! are .used at thecorner to provide a vertical post structure, and these blocks may benotched also as at 3 and 6, to provide a locking mortar joint with theother blocks of the wall and with each other. The so-called miter cornermay be used as illustrated in Fig. 5, in which case specifically formedcorner blocks 22 may be used. A so-called log cabin form of corner maybe used as illustrated in Fig. 6, In this case corner blocks 23 may beused which have cylindrical-like extensions 24 which project from thecorner and simulate the ends of the projecting logs.

The top of a wall structure is illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10. Oneadvantageous, and the preferred structure, is that of providing a plate25 placed on top of the wall, this p-latepreferably having apertures 26therein so that a full circulation of air may be had through the spacein the wall and through the top wall. This top plan may be secured tothe studding, as for example, by means of angle clips2i. A rafter isillustrated at 28, and the rafters may be secured to the top plate bymeans of suitable fastening devices which may take the form of sheetmetal members fashioned to form a base 30 which may be secured to thetop plate by rivets or the like 3| and which is then bent upon itself toprovide an inclined portion 32, and again bent to provide a strut 33extending downwardly and making contact with the base 30. The angularityof the part 30 may be varied for use with roofs of different pitches. InFig. 11 the angle plate is shown as being modifled by the addition of aflange 35. A wooden rafter may be placed upon the inclined part 30 flushup against the flange 35; and nails or the like may be driven throughthe flange which is apertured as at 36 for this purpose. However, eitherform of these clips may be used with metal rafters.

It will be understood that a number of top plates 25 may be used alongthe length of a wall, depending upon its length, and that the rafterclips will be spaced along the plates at the location of the rafters.

In some structures it may be desirable to further reenforce the wallstructure, particularly the outside wall section. Such reenforcernentmay reenforce the-outside walls against lateral pressure, as for examplewhere the wall is subjected to outside pressure where the wall is usedfor basements, or where the wall is subjected to any other pressure orliable to be subjected to any pressure of an excess nature, such as highwind pressure. The structure particularly reenforces the wall sectionsbetween the studding. For this purpose each block, especially the blocksfor the outer wall, is provided with longitudinally running grooves 31,and these grooves are designed to cooperate to form a closed channel asillustrated in Fig, '7 for the reception of reenforcing rods of steel orthe like'38. Where the reenforcing rod structure is used the rods may becut or caused to terminate for the passage of the cross ties ll.However, as illustrated in Fig. 7, the reenforcing rods may not be usedbetween the courses where the cross ties are used. The grooves 31 arepreferably pretty well filled in with mortar surrounding the rods tomake a tight reenforcing joint structure. r

I claim: a

. 1. In a masonry wall structure, a plurality of masonry blocks, eachblock having a portion rectangular in cross section and said portionsbeing laid insuperposed relation to form a wall structure, each blockhaving a second projecting portion on the exposed side of the blockextending substantially throughout the horizontal length of the blockand having an outer face substantially on a vertical radius, said secondportion having a vertical dimension less than the vertical dimension ofthe block, the ends of the blocks being in substantially abuttingrelationship so that the projecting portions of blocks in a tier presentelongated unbroken surfaces lengthwise of the wall, each block having agroove formation sub-' stantially at the line of connection between theportions and mortar between the second named portions of superposedblocks substantially filling a reentrant recess formed by the facinggrooves of superposed blocks, said mortar being exposed for asubstantial vertical distance to divide the said unbroken surfacespresented by the projecting portions. 7 2. In a masonry wall structure,a plurality of masonry blocks, each block having a portion rectangularin cross section and said portions being laid in superposed relation toform. a wall structure, each block having a projecting second portion onthe exposed side of the block extending substantially throughout thehorizontal length of the block and having an outer face substantially ona vertical radius, said portion having a vertical dimension less thanthe vertical dimension of the block, the ends of the blocks being insubstantially abutting relationship so that the projecting portions ofblocks in a-tier present elongated unbroken surfaces lengthwise of thewall, each block having a groove formation substantially at the line ofconnection between the portions and mortar between the second namedportions of superposed blocks substantially filling a reentrant recessformed by the facing grooves of superposed blocks, said mortar beingexposedfo-r a substantial vertical distance to divide the said unbrokensurfaces presented by the projecting portions, said blocks havinggrooves at their ends arranged to substantially face each other for thereception of mortar toform an interlocking joint.

- JAMES H. STITES.

